A letter to small publishers about the Cape Town Book Fair 2007

Dear South African small publishers

As you know, the Cape Town International Book Fair 2006 was a resounding success.

South African small publishers were well represented, and the Book Fair provided a great showcase for the diversity and talent in this field. Thanks to the generosity of Vanessa Badroodien who kindly allocated space that had become available and through the good offices of Allan Kolski Horwitz who liased with her, small publishers were very fortunate to be donated the space for a stand.

With plans afoot for the next Book Fair, and with the aim of furthering the excellent reception that small publishers received at last year’s fair, we would like to start the ball rolling now and look at how small publishers can once again make their mark at the Book Fair in 2007.

In 2007, it is likely that if small publishers wish to be represented they will have to contribute towards a stall. There are advantages attached to this, the most important being that such a stall could be more centrally placed, and therefore attract more attention. It makes sense to capitalise on the success of the last Book Fair, and start a process whereby small scale and self- publishing becomes an ongoing dimension of the Book Fair.

One stall at the book fair will cost approximately R10 000 for the three days. Ideally, we should have two stalls, and, even more ideally, these should be as close to the Centre for the Book’s stall as possible. (We will ask again for space to be donated, but should have a plan of action in place in case this is not possible.)

The Centre for the Book has agreed to help to manage the process and would like to suggest the following for 2007:

Fee - Any small publisher who wishes to book space on the stall would pay R500. This fee would cover:
entrance to the fair;
signage * we will ask for quotes for signage, as it would be good to have a ‘look’ that people then associate with small publishers. There would be a main sign for the stall, and smaller ones for each publisher’s name;
invitation to a small publishers’ function: a forum discussion, possibly preceded by some sort of cocktail event if there are enough funds to cover this.

Distribution - Small publishers who are unable to attend the fair could send their books and promotional material to The Centre for the Book and we will ensure that these are displayed on the stall. (We will have to come to an arrangement about the return of books after the fair is over as we would not be able to pay the postage for them to be returned.)

Obviously the finer details will be also have to be discussed, but for now, we would appreciate your feedback on these suggestions.


Maire Fisher
http://thesouthafricansmallpublishersblog.wordpress.com